Friday, March 29, 2013

Most people liked Larry Smith on sight. Actually, most thought they new him, with his nondescript face and features. This worked to his advantage and disadvantage, enough that he found himself facing murder charges for killing a local judge's brother. Good luck with justice in a small Texas town where everyone knows everyone's else's business and they take 'speedy trial' to a new level.

Terry Burns takes us into the Old West, where cattle rustlers get hanged on the spot, or a man can find himself a nice little spread and settle down. Woven into the story are similes and metaphors that spice up the tome like a good lathering of barbecue sauce:

“His eyes came up and saw Jake and Larry. They went as cold as a pistol left laying in a snow bank.”

“Not me, man, I’d sooner try to put a saddle on a panther than tangle with the Rafter T.”

“I dang near got acquainted with the business end of Billy the Kid’s shooting irons, and didn’t even know it. That’s about as close to pulling up the old dirt covers as I’ve ever been. Old Larry pulled my fat outta the fire for sure.”

Larry's a great guy, a cowboy trying to make his place in Texas, and finds himself in numerous situations with people who recognize him- or think they do. Miss Mandy, for instance, gets escorted to her uncle's place by Larry because he's a gentleman. Of course, when another recognizes him as a cattle rustler, Larry finds himself wearing a woven hemp necktie and comes close to 'pulling up the dirt covers' himself.

But he uses his familiarity to get places. And people, even after realizing they don't recognize him, perceive his integrity and he finds himself deep in the land of politics, as the country struggles to manage itself during it's explosive growth.

Burns does a great job of showing us the day when men took the law into their own hands and ladies struggled to make a household in the wilderness. The reader can smell the leather of the saddles and the trail dust as he takes him out in the country, where people are real- real honest, real mean, and real workers.

Part Western, part suspense and a bit of love story, 'Don't I Know You?' is woven together to make a great read. It's as good as a June Bug on a cactus bloom. Okay, I better leave the metaphors to Terry.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Our last discussion focused essentially on the changes in the publishing world that have led to the Indie Pub Revolution. This time I want to start focusing on the nuts and bolts of publishing your book indepedently.

Preparing Your
Book

So
assuming you want to do this, now the question is how do you get your book
ready for publication? It’s tempting, once you’ve finished a book, to want
immediately to get it into the hands of readers—whether that’s by submitting it
to a publishing house or an agent, or to release it independently.

The
best course of action, however, is to stick it in a drawer for a while.
Seriously. Put it down and walk away. Do something else. Plant a garden. Read a
book. Go on a vacation. Whatever. Get some distance between you and your work.
Take a week or a month or however long you need in order to come back to your
manuscript again with a fresh pair of eyes. You need to see your book not
through your writer glasses, but through your reader glasses, and it can take
some time before you can successfully take off one pair of glasses and put on
the other.

Edit,
Edit, Edit!

What
you must do at this point is edit your work. No book deserves to be published
that has not had the stuffing edited out of it.

On a recent broadcast celebrating the
fortieth anniversary of the publication of William Peter Blatty’s bestselling
novel, The Exorcist, the author gave an interview where he discussed the
impact of the book since its publication, and he described a moment when he was
sitting in a motel room recording the audio version of the book, several years
later, and at one point he stopped the recording and said, to the amusement of
all in the room, “Who wrote this crap?”

Edit,
edit, edit. You want to ensure that your readers have the best possible
experience of your book and of you as a writer. Your book may be the first
impression someone forms of you as a writer, and you want them to come back and
buy more of your books and recommend you to their friends.

True,
editing delays the publication process, but learning patience is learning a
significant skill that will aid your future success.

Once
you’ve edited your book to the point where you and your critique partners are
fully satisfied, you’re ready to format your book for publication.

Formatting

There
are different standards for formatting a book. Print and electronic are not the
same, and there are differences between one e-reader and another.

Formatting for Print

One
of the concerns for print is pagination. This is the general look or “feel” for
the page. If you examine printed books, you will notice several variations in
how they are laid out. There is no hard and fast rules for pagination, but
there are some guiding principles that can make your book look “professional,”
(which is what you want).

Choose
a readable font. There are three kinds of fonts: serif, sans serif, and script.
Serif fonts have a little “wedge” called a “serif” at the ends of the letters.
Times New Roman is the standard example, and this is the most common kind of
font used for print. Other good examples include Garamond
and Book Antiqua.

Sans
serif fonts (like Arial
or Calibri)
have no “wedge,” in their letters. These are more commonly used for electronic
media. Script fonts are designed to look like handwriting or calligraphy. You
should use no more than two different fonts in your print matter, alternating
serif and sans serif for text and titles.

Once
you have your font choice, next choose a suitable font size. 12 point Times New
Roman is considered a “normal size” font, so choose something similar. Your
line spacing should be no less than 1 line and no more than 1.2 lines, with no
space after the paragraph. Indent each paragraph at least 0.3 inches to 0.5
inches.

It is
also typical to justify the margins, so that each line of a paragraph, with the
exception of the last line and the indent on the first line extend to the full
margin on the left and the right sides of the page. Sometimes, you’ll find that
the paragraph justification will either radically condense or expand a line in
a way that is unpleasant. You can adjust this by selecting the line of text and
either expanding or condensing the character spacing for the font manually by
as much as .3 (any more than this and you risk making the line illegible
yourself.).

To
properly set up your page, choose the size paper you expect to print to, and
leave at least a .33 inch margin on the left and the right, with no more than
.5 inches. The top and bottom margins should be a little larger, up to an inch
for larger books. In the page set up window, set your page for multiple pages
with mirror margins, and leave .25 inches in the gutter. This will give you
room for the binding of the book, and it will assemble correctly on the left
and the right pages.

Your
first chapter should start on the right facing page. Some books start each new
chapter also on the right facing page, though doing so may increase your page
count, and thus your cost. You can use manual page breaks (CTRL + Enter) to
start a new page.

Page
numbers can be included at the top or the bottom, and are either centered or
are at the outside edge of the print margin. It’s also common practice to
include the author’s name and the name of the book or the name of the current
chapter, in the header of the page, though the first page of each chapter
usually has no header information. Section breaks allow you to create separate
headers for each chapter.

Formatting For Electronic

When
it comes to e-books, none of what I’ve just gone over matters. E-books have no
pages, so pagination for an e-book is markedly different, unless the e-book is
a pdf. Portable Document Format is designed to look like an electronic version
of a printed document.

Most
e-books do not have header or footer information, contain no page numbers, and
do not have page or section breaks between them. A new chapter usually begins
with the word “Chapter” and is followed by a numeral rather than a spelled out
number. This makes it possible for some e-readers to easily navigate to a
chapter from the main screen of the e-reader (Kindle doesn’t require this).

It is
necessary, for your book to be available in the broadest cross-section of
e-readers, that your book be formatted in multiple file types. These e-reader
file types include:

·Plain text for straight downloading and viewing a
book as a web page.

You
can, of course, format in all of these versions yourself, but I highly
recommend Smashwords for this function. The “Meatgrinder” software engine they
employ will successfully convert a Microsoft Word document into the various
formats for publication. Smashwords has a free “style guide” you can download
to be sure your book is formatted correctly for these formats. Meatgrinder
tends to work better with earlier versions of Word. Microsoft Word likes to add
a lot of extraneous data to its files, so it may be necessary to save your work
to an earlier format to eliminate some of these options (such as smart tags,
which display an address or a stock quote or other data based on text in your
document).

I
also recommend uploading your book to Amazon’s Kindle separate from Smashwords
(and at least three months prior to Smashwords, which we’ll get into later).

If
you include images in your book, be sure their resolution is no less than 300
dpi (dots per inch). This will prevent them from looking “pixilated” in print.
300 dpi is also sufficient for most e-readers. You can go “hi-def” with 1080p
if you want, but this may cause your book to become too large to effectively
download. Smashwords allows for a maximum of 5 megabytes per book, so
hi-resolution images can prevent you from publishing. If necessary, you can
compress your images to save space. Word has a very effective image compression
function you can use.

To
correctly insert an image into an ebook, you’ll need to set the image to center
and lay it out in line with the text. This will fix your image in place so your text doesn't wrap unpredictably around the
image.

Front and End Matter

Lastly, you need to concern yourself with
the front and end matter of the book. This includes the necessary copyright
information and ISBN number that identifies the book as belonging to you. Most
independent publishing outfits will give you a free ISBN number, though you can
purchase your own. You cannot use the same ISBN for different versions of the
book, so print and electronic have to have their own numbers. Kindle uses a
different identifier called an ASIN, and this does not need to be included in
the book itself.

I also recommend including a “disclaimer”
in the front of the book. It should say something like,

All
rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written
permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's
imagination or are used fictitiously.The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of
various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used
without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized,
associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

You
can include an author’s note describing, briefly, your experience writing the
book or your reasons for writing it. A page of acknowledgements and dedication
is typically found the front as well. If the author’s note is more than a page,
you might want to consider putting it in the back of at least the electronic
version, so that you don’t keep the reader bogged down in text that isn’t the
real story. Also, given that many e-book sellers allow for sampling (typically
20-25%), you want to be sure your potential readers get hooked on the book
itself, instead of spending their time reading extraneous material.

If
you have any noteworthy comments or praises from your critique partners or beta
readers, you can include those in the front matter as well.

I also recommend including a sample of other books in
the back end, along with cover images (if you have them) and “where to buy”
information. Every book should have a sales plug for every other book you
write. Each time you write something new, you can update the previous books
with the new sales information, so that future readers have the opportunity to
be exposed to more of your material. Be sure to include contact information as
well (such as a web address, blog, Twitter handle, Facebook page, etc.). Do not
include your personal address or phone number. NEXT UP: MAKING AN EYE-CATCHING COVER

Monday, March 25, 2013

Brian Feinblum, Chief Marketing Officer for Media Connect in New York, is one of my connections on LinkedIn. Soon after linking with me, he sent a direct message that caught my attention and had me writing his name on my "to hire" list if I ever get an advance big enough not to snicker at. The man knows what he's doing.

He has been in book publishing, public relations, and marketing for over two decades, the last thirteen years at Media Connect, formerly Planned Television Arts (PTA), the nation's largest and oldest book promoters. He’s also a published author and a blogger. He shares his wisdom on his site BookMarketingBuzzBlog, but I found this post informative and important enough to reprint here.

Battle for Book Sales Beyond Amazon

The marketplace for books - whether print, digital, or audio - is clearly owned by Amazon. They account for 27% of total units sold, as of October 1, 2012, according to RR Bowker. They improved from 21% a year earlier. Barnes & Noble declined to 16%, down from 17%. But after these two retailers, no single company scored in the double digits. In fact, no single category of sales channel hit double digits. Here's how the rest of the book marketplace breaks down:

The book marketing battlefield runs beyond bookstores or e-commerce sites. Books are everywhere and nowhere. But however they are sold, there is no doubt that sales will always be driven by savvy book marketing and the garnering of news media coverage. Word of mouth makes a big difference but only once there is a critical mass of interest that builds up form marketing exposure. Publishers and authors will continue to identify their target readers, sell their books everywhere in every form, and market to their core readers.

Promote - or perish!

~~~~~
If you're ready to get serious about book promotion, you can contact Brian:

Friday, March 22, 2013

Ressurect

by

David E. Stevens

Commander Josh Logan is dead. Piloting his powerless
burning jet fighter away from a town, he ejected too late. But from a voice
that only he hears, he is offered a new life with a mission to save the earth
from collision with a comet two years hence. He wakes in a hospital with enhanced
abilities but with no name, no identity, and no funds. From this start, aided
only by a faithful nurse and a mysterious voice that answers his questions with
other questions, he must persuade elements of government and industry to build
a weapon powerful enough to deflect the comet.

His problems are immense. How does a person with no
identity gain a security clearance? How does he launch a super-secret billion-dollar
project when he has no funds? How does he divert the nation’s best minds from
their own priority work to support his project? And how long can he keep the
project advancing without jealous managers of other projects discovering it and
blowing its cover? In David E. Stevens’ skillful development, the novel
proceeds step by step from one danger to another to reach a fitting climax.

Yet the book is no ordinary thriller. It is
populated by a variety of interesting characters with lifelike concerns. In a
rare and subtle authorial feat, Stevens gives his hero thought patterns that
accurately reflect those of men who have experienced combat.

Stevens also infuses the novel with scientific and
philosophical depth, but he does so without slowing the narrative. From time to
time he presents the reader with concepts from philosophy and quantum physics,
but he does so in terms that are readily understood. And, still keeping the
narrative readable, he explores the boundaries between physics and metaphysics.
Astute readers will also find added depth in the names of his characters.

This novel is one of the most readable and rewarding
works of fiction that I have ever read. And the best news of all is that it is
the first novel of a trilogy. I look forward to the pleasure of reading its
sequels.

About the author:

Commander David E Stevens, a Navy Commander and F-18 pilot, is a
self-professed adrenaline junky who loves science and technology. He
holds engineering degrees from Cornell and The University of Michigan,
with graduate work in human factors and astrophysics. During the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait, Dave served as the Navy Strike Operations Officer
for the Persian Gulf. He also test-piloted new fighters, received an
aviation patent, and with a Top Secret clearance, led classified defense
programs.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

I’ve worked in journalism going on
forty years now as both writer and editor for newspapers and magazines. I can
honestly say thousands of news releases have crossed my desk over the years,
and it never ceases to amaze me how poorly done most of them are, even many sent
out by polished writers, marketers, and PR pros. They miss promotional
opportunities because they fail to remember three basic principals.

Never
forget your audience, who you need to impress with your news release–the
editors who decide if your news release will see the light of publication.
What does that editor need to interest his or her readership?

Provide an
editor with reasons why your news release would be of interest to his or
her readers.

Compose the
news release in a functional format an editor can easily use. A news
release is a tool, not a work of art. The point is to get the information
it contains into print and generate follow up interest. Do not expect your
news release to be published verbatim.

Here are six tips to compose an
effective news release:

A news
release has two purposes: a) To get the basic information into print; b)
to interest an editor into generating more copy about the subject matter,
a feature article on the author, perhaps, or coverage of the event you are
promoting.

A news
release should be written in third person, not first. A is doing B at C,
etc. That can easily be transferred into a publication. Something written
as “I will be appearing at someplace with my new novel on…” will need a
rewrite which an editor may or may not have time to do. You don’t want
your news release ending up in the editor’s To Do When I find the Time pile.

Make sure
you have all the facts stated clearly: What are you promoting, who are you
promoting, where is it happening, when is it happening, and why anyone
should care. The why is rather tricky and should be tailored to each
publication you are contacting. And always provide contact information to
encourage follow up.

Research
the editors/publications you are contacting. Know what they are looking
for and make sure your news release fulfills those needs. For example, if
you are contacting a local newspaper, make sure you mention a “local”
reason why that paper should publish the information you are providing.
What is the local connection?

State the
facts clearly: Jane Doe will be signing her new book “I’m Finally Published”
at the Plenty of Books store in This City from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday,
July 20. And so on.

Attribute
statements of opinion as direct quotes from a named person. Instead of
writing “Jane Doe will be signing her marvelous and exciting new book ‘I’m
Finally Published’ at the Plenty of Books store in This City from 10 a.m.
to noon, Saturday, July 20” write an additional sentence like this: “Jane
Doe has written a marvelous and exciting new book,” said Owen Owner of
Plenty of Books. Using attributes like that are the best way to get more
promotional material through the editorial filter and into print.

Here’s an example on how
to format a news release to promote the release of a new book.

WEST BEND, Wis. – Local
novelist Lisa Lickel has published her second book in her popular Buried
Treasure Series. The Map Quilt is a sweet romantic, cozy mystery like Lisa’s
first book in the series, The Gold Standard,” said MuseItUp Publication’s
editor Anne Duguid.

The Map Quilt is now
available online and will soon be out in paperback, Lickel said.

“Death in rural Wisconsin
is only the beginning to new chaos in Robertsville, the new home of my
protagonist, school teacher Judy Wingate,” Lickel said. “The story revolves
around a stolen innovative new battery, a long-buried skeleton, and an old
quilt that contains its own secrets. Judy and her
husband Hart unravel the murder of Hart’s boss and how Judy’s ancestors were
once part of the Underground Railroad.”

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin
writer who lives with her husband in a 160-year-old house built by a Great
Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes mystery and
romance novels, all with a touch of grace.

She also edits, writes
book reviews and interviews, and has penned dozens of short stories, magazine
articles, feature stories for newspapers, and radio theater scripts. She is
editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin, the literary magazine of the Wisconsin
Writers Association, and of Other Sheep, a Christian science fiction and
fantasy magazine.

Her website is
LisaLickel.com.

About Dave Rank:

A working journalist in Wisconsin for 39
years, David J. Rank writes for and has edited newspapers, magazines, books,
and corporate publications. He’s also sold or placed freelance articles and
news releases in trade, regional and national publications. Vice president of
the Wisconsin Writers Association and active in local writing groups, Rank has
had more than 25 short stories published online and in regional literary
publications.

Monday, March 18, 2013

The more I read in books and blogs the more I see the misuse of the word than.
I’m sure it could be a typo on some occasions but the prevalence of
this mistake makes me think the understanding of when to use than or then needs to be reviewed.

Than is used for a comparison. This book is longer than that one. It is cloudier today than it was yesterday.

Then is used for sequences or consequences. We are familiar with if/then simple sentences.

The problem seems to come when it isn’t a straight if/then sentence then the error occurs more often. In reading the preceding sentence it becomes apparent, hopefully, that it is an if/then. The word if isn’t used but if we dissect it a little we can see the if/then structure.

The problem seems to come when it isn’t a straight if/then sentence then the error occurs more often.

When Bobby gets here then we will go.

Being able to replace when with if shows this is and if/then type of sentence. This isn’t a comparison it’s a cause-effect, a consequence.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Flashlight in hand, I stumbled to the room where that
dreaded apparatus dwelt—the elliptical. It was early on a Sunday—before the
dogs awoke, before the sun came up, before my muscles could object. Pushing the
lever on the CD player (yes, I still use one), the lilting Celtic melodies
stirred my enthusiasm up perhaps half a notch. Let’s face it. At 5 a.m., it’s
tough to get excited about exercising.

As the strains of the hammered dulcimer helped my pumping
legs and arms get into a steady pace, I forgot about the work and began to
focus on the quilt in the corner. My daughter, Bethany’s, quilt.

It was a gift from her college friends, lovingly pieced
together after her diagnosis of a terminal brain tumor. One of her friends sent
out the word: Make a special quilt square and I will piece them together. And what
a work of art their combined efforts became.

During my workout, I visually embraced the variety of
squares that spoke of the talent and personality of each pal. One quoted
Zephaniah 3:17: He will quiet youwithHis
love. Carolyn, an artist, drew a beautiful Madonna holding the infant Jesus
and wrote, “May Christ hold you in His arms as this mother must have held Him.”
Kathryn sewed a tea pot design (Bethany loved tea) and stitched 2 Corinthians
13: Praise be to the God of all comfort
who comforts us all in our troubles.

Other squares were embedded with photos of better, healthier
times. Some had private jokes that made me shake my head. ;-) Others were just
a sweet design, meant to cheer my daughter with the love of the seamstress.

They all had one thing in common: each square was formed
with fondness. They were then connected through the skill of the quilter into
the final, breath-taking product—an heirloom to treasure.

As I thought of the care that went into each stitch, I
thought of the words that create my stories. Is every syllable, every phrase,
every creative thought, fabricated into a design worthy of an heirloom?

Looking at my book shelves, I can find many a literary
treasure: Pilgrim’s Progress; Moby Dick; Jane Eyre. While the writing style of
their day has changed in modern times, the carefully constructed threads of
story, analogy, and words that capture our imagination make these missives
stand out. Each paragraph, each description is lovingly knitted together to
create a masterpiece whose value spans the decades.

Much like Bethany’s quilt that will always remain a part of
our family, books of intricate design wrought with love will hold their value,
long after the writer’s hand has ceased.

If only my words could form into a piece of art and capture
the essence of a finely sewn quilt!

Bethany’s friends poured their hearts into this gift for
her. Their love and hard work made it the beautiful creation that it is.

I strive to pour every ounce of my creative being—along with
a heaping dose of emotion and affection for the story—to fashion a work that
will, hopefully, be a gift to my readers. Rather than focusing on my word
count, I pray that I can make every word, count.

Monday, March 11, 2013

A fellow writer sent an email to me and recommended a web-based marketing training program. I checked it out. Twenty dollars a month. I passed.

What? I've purchased construction equipment for over a hundred thousand dollars, bought investment houses and I'm balking on a paltry twenty bucks a month? That's the life of a writer.

Why are we so cheap? There are a number of reasons:

1.) The payoff is distant to invisible. When will the conference pay off in book sales and paychecks? The answer is nebulous. It's difficult to part with money with an uncertain return.

2.) The payoff is paltry. I understand the average writer makes around $5k a year. Is the money spent on a killer website worth it?

3.) Writers aren't entrepreneurs. They are risk adverse. All the risks occur in their stories.

4.) Writers don't need the money. It's true, they have a spouse bringing in the cash, have a paying job, or are retired with some income. Seriously, they aren't hungry.

5.) Writers aren't capitalists. Most write to make a statement, influence peoples' lives, or want the fame of being a 'published author' and it's good enough.

What should we do? We need to change our minds. First, do you call yourself a writer, do you believe you're a writer? If you don't then no one else will either.

Just like businesses have budgets, you should too. How much should you spend a year on your writing career? Only you can answer that, but it should be significant enough to aggressively move your writing career toward success while not being a burden to your budget or family.

We need to invest in ourselves. What's your weakness? Writing skills? Take community college writing classes. Marketing? Invest in a website or blog. Connecting? Sign up for a conference. If you have a Phd in English, then you probably don't need to focus on education. What about your website or blog? Probably a good move would be to prop up your weakness. Perhaps you've procrastinated on attending a conference until you're completely ready. Even if you're not ready to pitch your book, you can take numerous classes, meet and connect with people, and perhaps find someone who could listen to your pitch of your book. Maybe it's time to overcome fears and join a writer's group.

Another aspect of changing our minds is to consider the money spent as money invested. Sometimes entrepreneurs will pour money into an investment for years before seeing returns. And since they are risk takers, they also invest with the daunting specter of getting nothing in return. Are you willing to take a risk on yourself? And are you willing enough to consider investing in yourself, even if there's a chance there's no return?

Perhaps I'll take my own advice and invest in the web-based marketing program. What's the worst that could happen? I'm out twenty bucks a month.

Another aspect of changing our minds is to consider the money spent as money invested. Sometimes entrepreneurs will pour money into an investment for years before seeing returns. And since they are risk takers, they also invest with the daunting specter of getting nothing in return. Are you willing to take a risk on yourself? And are you willing enough to consider investing in yourself, even if there's a chance there's no return?

Perhaps I'll take my own advice and invest in the web-based marketing program. What's the worst that could happen? I'm out twenty bucks a month.

Staci Stallings had to learn marketing basics the hard way,
and wants to help others get from Point A (publication-whoo-hoo!) to Point B
(being read—the real goal of an author) with the least amount of stumbling in
the dark.

How can you not love a gift like that?

This short 70-page e-book will become a baby author’s new
BFF in short order. Set up like a workshop of fifteen-minute lessons, Keys promises only to teach an author,
not automatic over-night success. In fact, Stallings warns several times that
learning to market is a process, and a slow one at that. Building trust takes
time and effort, but it can be done. I love Staci’s goal: not only should I
become a better marketer, I will be able to turn around and share the strategy
with others.

The pre-advice alone is valuable: Besides, put out a Great
book and Get a great cover, Get some good reviews right away. I made the mistake
of not doing this when I attempted my first-ever electronic short story: Get
those reviews set up early, because you’re going to get blasted by people who
have way too much time on their hands and vitriol in their veins. They will lie
in their reviews and be as nasty as possible. Having a load of honestly good
ones ready to go will help sales.

Stallings shares not only great easy tips, but examples of
how to do this in each section, from creating an online presence, how to act
online, building a great landing page, and keeping the momentum going. Each
segment of pithy advice is concise and powerful. Each lesson has a goal, from think
(about the covered concept; e.g., how to reel in your readers) to examine
(the covered topic; e.g., the strengths and weaknesses of your current strategy
to reach your audience), to put some effortinto getting reviews. Stallings includes a list of review sites,
and shows you how to use them to the optimum effect.

Even a little paid advertising can be useful. Realize that
being an author means learning about a lot of things you might never have
considered “writing,” such as working with technology. If you’re not much of a
grammarian, you hire an editor; if you’re not a tekkie, hire someone who is.

Some advice I can live with:

Don’t talk about yourself

Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint

Don’t try to do it alone

Finally, Stallings advises the reader not to sit around,
whining in fear, but to take a step in the direction of your dreams.

Packed with illustrations and easy to follow examples, the
lessons in Keys to Creating a Successful Book Marketing Strategy are sure
to meet your needs somewhere, sometime. Keep this book handy; you’ll refer to
it often.

Disclaimer

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